Even as the footballing world was coming to terms with its fallen hero, Italy went about the business of winning the World Cup for the fourth time. Their role in Zidane’s dismissal cost them the support of the neutrals but it didn’t cost them their nerve when it mattered, and even the Germans booing their every touch would have marvelled at their clinical finishing in the penalty shootout.

Yet the trials of Italy’s footballers aren’t over; sometime in the next few days, maybe even by the time you read this, judgement will be pronounced in the match-fixing case back home. The footballers themselves aren’t in the dock, but their league—where each member of this squad plies his trade—is. And a dozen players face the prospect of having to turn out for new clubs next season if their current employers are relegated. A thought sobering enough to clear up the worst hangover.

A strange tournament— strangely satisfying, too—ended on a disappointing note, Zidane’s dismissal being one of the few points of drama in a final lacking in atmosphere and displays of class the two teams can produce. Perhaps the problem lay in the fact that too few fans of the two competing countries expected to be here; the two sets of supporters were tucked away at either end of the vast stadium, with neutrals packing the seats in between.

That was a metaphor for the match, with the drama being confined to the initial moments and the endgame, the passage in between surviving on flashes of inspiration and displays of stunning technique. It seemed, indeed, that both teams had already played out their best: Italy against Germany, France against Brazil.

... contd.